Installation info: See documents...GT Studio confirms this work requires a 13amp supply. ***DO NOT TURN OFF THE WORK MID SEQUENCE***Sensor sits 11.1 cm from the floor. Power supply and controls to the reverse.An electronic waxwork of the artist as a laughing, drunken sailor.The odd sailor is an itinerant vagrant of the high seas trapped like a butterfly in a glass case. Hollow laughter repeating in circular patterns of jerky movement. The seaside freak as free spirit forever doomed to play out the instructions of the operator like a giant puppet. Jolly Jack tar, (union jack) colonialism. “As it hit the water the fire hissed and the sinking pipe became no more than bubbles. Jim remembered old Sampan, his teeth blackened with betel, who had given him the pipe on the other side of the globe all those years ago; how he’d predicted the fate of that infernal device, saying it would betray him and meet a watery grave. Recalling the image of Sampan only moments later himself accidentally falling off the boat brought Jim to his feet and pointing into the water, the quizzical look on his face changed, his head rolled and from the base of his stomach came a thunderous laugh.” Gavin Turk

Gentleman Jim

Life Sized Automaton

Installation info: See documents...GT Studio confirms this work requires a 13amp supply. ***DO NOT TURN OFF THE WORK MID SEQUENCE***Sensor sits 11.1 cm from the floor. Power supply and controls to the reverse.An electronic waxwork of the artist as a laughing, drunken sailor.The odd sailor is an itinerant vagrant of the high seas trapped like a butterfly in a glass case. Hollow laughter repeating in circular patterns of jerky movement. The seaside freak as free spirit forever doomed to play out the instructions of the operator like a giant puppet. Jolly Jack tar, (union jack) colonialism. “As it hit the water the fire hissed and the sinking pipe became no more than bubbles. Jim remembered old Sampan, his teeth blackened with betel, who had given him the pipe on the other side of the globe all those years ago; how he’d predicted the fate of that infernal device, saying it would betray him and meet a watery grave. Recalling the image of Sampan only moments later himself accidentally falling off the boat brought Jim to his feet and pointing into the water, the quizzical look on his face changed, his head rolled and from the base of his stomach came a thunderous laugh.” Gavin Turk

Automaton

Self-Portrait

Outsider

The Sea

Fool

Masks

Faces

Sculpture

Installation info: See documents... GT Studio confirms this work requires a 13amp supply.  ***DO NOT TURN OFF THE WORK MID SEQUENCE*** Sensor sits 11.1 cm from the floor.  Power supply and controls to the reverse. An electronic waxwork of the artist as a laughing, drunken sailor. The odd sailor is an itinerant vagrant of the high seas trapped like a butterfly in a glass case. Hollow laughter repeating in circular patterns of jerky movement. The seaside freak as free spirit forever doomed to play out the instructions of the operator like a giant puppet.

Installation info: hang framed artwork on suitable wallA screen printed black frame on paper leaving a white A4 space to look like a framed blank piece of paper.

Positive Negative A4

Silkscreen ink and diamond dust on paper

Installation info: hang framed artwork on suitable wallA screen printed black frame on paper leaving a white A4 space to look like a framed blank piece of paper.

Signatures

Silkscreen

Installation info: hang framed artwork on suitable wall A screen printed black frame on paper leaving a white A4 space to look like a framed blank piece of paper.

A bronze cast of a pillow in a striped pillow case, painted to look real

Inheritance

Painted bronze

Domestic

A bronze cast of a pillow in a striped pillow case, painted to look real

A bronze cast of lotus seed head and stem, painted green and brown to resemble the original plant.

Lotus Flower

Lotus

A bronze cast of lotus seed head and stem, painted green and brown to resemble the original plant.

A bronze cast of a used match painted to look real.

A miniature echo of

Burnt Out

, this match was used to start the fire. Its sulphur is used up and the tiny tool discarded.

The simple tool used to start a fire, Turk’s bronze spent matches tells a story of life and early civilisation but also of destruction, fire-starters and revolutionaries. But the life of these matches has come to an end. Their purpose fulfilled, they have been discarded as waste - symbols relating to fire but also of fires which have burnt out. And yet this tiny piece of detritus, so easy to overlook on the street, has been cast in bronze. Something fragile, ephemeral and worthless has been transformed at the hand of Turk into something solid and permanent, containing within it both hidden value and hidden meaning.

Spent Match

Fire

Waste

Trompe L'oeil

A bronze cast of a used match painted to look real. A miniature echo of Burnt Out , this match was used to start the fire. Its sulphur is used up and the tiny tool discarded.

A print of the artist as Andy Warhol in black on a blue background.

Fright Wig Blue

Silkscreen ink and metallic paint on canvas

Warhol

Icons

A print of the artist as Andy Warhol in black on a blue background.

A bronze cast of a polystyrene cup stained with tea &amp; painted to look real.

Tea and Polystyrene

Cups

Food

A bronze cast of a polystyrene cup stained with tea & painted to look real.

A negative print of the Artist as Andy Warhol in black on a silver background.

Silver Negative Fright Wig

Appropriation

A negative print of the Artist as Andy Warhol in black on a silver background.

A bronze cast of 2 stacked polystyrene cups painted to look real.

Double Cup

Polystyrene

A bronze cast of 2 stacked polystyrene cups painted to look real.

A bronze cast of lotus seed head and stem, painted to look real.

Homer

A bronze cast of lotus seed head and stem, painted to look real.

A print of the Artist as Joseph Beuys in fluorescent pink with an image of a safety pin through the nose. Displayed in a white box frame.

Pink Beuys (Nappy Pin)

Acrylic silkscreen on paper

Beuys

Punk

A print of the Artist as Joseph Beuys in fluorescent pink with an image of a safety pin through the nose. Displayed in a white box frame.

A print of the Artist as Joseph Beuys in black with diamond dust on a blue background. Printed in the style of an Andy Warhol silkscreen.

Beuys in Diamond Dust

Silkscreen on canvas with diamond dust 

A print of the Artist as Joseph Beuys in black with diamond dust on a blue background. Printed in the style of an Andy Warhol silkscreen.

A bronze cast of the middle of a toilet roll painted to look real.

In Memory of Piero Manzoni

Packaging

A bronze cast of the middle of a toilet roll painted to look real.

A double print of the Artist as Joseph Beuys in black on a silver background. Printed in the style of an Andy Warhol silkscreen.

Double Beuys

A double print of the Artist as Joseph Beuys in black on a silver background. Printed in the style of an Andy Warhol silkscreen.

Two prints of the Artist as Che Guevara in black on a red background. Printed in the style of an Andy Warhol silkscreen.Gavin first made a series of artworks based on revolutionaries from 1998 to 2000. Revolutionaries being those people who through their championing of the &lsquo;other&rsquo; become people who define the status quo. Che Guevara whose early death added to his ever-growing mythology has become one of the most all pervasive symbols of anti-establishment and counter culture throughout the world. Every western teenager who is reacting against the authority of their parents, or of the state, has a poster of Che Guevara on their bedroom wall. The image is taken from the photograph by Alberto Korda in 1957. In Double Red Che the artist prints himself as Che Guevara in the Andy Warhol factory style, accentuating the process of reproduction.

Double Red Che

Revolution

Two prints of the Artist as Che Guevara in black on a red background. Printed in the style of an Andy Warhol silkscreen.

A print of the Artist as Joseph Beuys in fluorescent pink with an image of a safety pin through the lips. Displayed in a white box frame.

Pink Beuys (Pinned Mouth)

A print of the Artist as Joseph Beuys in fluorescent pink with an image of a safety pin through the lips. Displayed in a white box frame.

A print of the Artist as Andy Warhol in black on a gold leaf background.

Me as Him (Gold) 

Silkscreen and gold leaf on paper

A print of the Artist as Andy Warhol in black on a gold leaf background.

A bronze cast of a fat, yellowing apple core with red skin, painted to look real.Eaten and then thrown away, Turk takes the discarded, shrivelled and dead and gives it new life in the form of miniature painted bronze sculptures. Heavy with the symbolism of an English Eden, these once ripe fruits, alongside their associations with knowledge and temptation, Adam&rsquo;s apple and of course, Eve, have been discarded and tossed away. Now &ldquo;rotten to the core&rdquo;, the fruits of the utopian English garden have become a poisonous symbol of man&rsquo;s fall. Or perhaps they are nothing more ominous than evidence of a healthy diet in which their daily consumption contains the promise to keep the doctor away.

Core

Apples

A bronze cast of a fat, yellowing apple core with red skin, painted to look real.

A print of the Artist as Joseph Beuys in red on a Jenkins green background. Printed in the style of an Andy Warhol silkscreen.

Red Beuys

A print of the Artist as Joseph Beuys in red on a Jenkins green background. Printed in the style of an Andy Warhol silkscreen.

An electronic waxwork of the artist as a laughing, drunken sailor.

The odd sailor is an itinerant vagrant of the high seas trapped like a butterfly in a glass case. Hollow laughter repeating in circular patterns of jerky movement. The seaside freak as free spirit forever doomed to play out the instructions of the operator like a giant puppet. Jolly Jack tar, (union jack) colonialism.

“As it hit the water the fire hissed and the sinking pipe became no more than bubbles. Jim remembered old Sampan, his teeth blackened with betel, who had given him the pipe on the other side of the globe all those years ago; how he’d predicted the fate of that infernal device, saying it would betray him and meet a watery grave. Recalling the image of Sampan only moments later himself accidentally falling off the boat brought 
Jim to his feet and pointing into the water, the quizzical look on his face changed, his head rolled and from the base of his stomach came a thunderous laugh.” Gavin Turk

Mechanical SculptureLife Sized Automata

An electronic waxwork of the artist as a laughing, drunken sailor. The odd sailor is an itinerant vagrant of the high seas trapped like a butterfly in a glass case. Hollow laughter repeating in circular patterns of jerky movement. The seaside freak as free spirit forever doomed to play out the instructions of the operator like a giant puppet. Jolly Jack tar, (union jack) colonialism.

A print of the Artist as Joseph Beuys in fluorescent yellow, painted over with a black &lsquo;mask&rsquo; over the eyes. Displayed in a white box frame.

Yellow Beuys (Masked)

A print of the Artist as Joseph Beuys in fluorescent yellow, painted over with a black ‘mask’ over the eyes. Displayed in a white box frame.

A print of the artist as Andy Warhol in black on a silver leaf background.

Me as Him (Silver)

Silkscreen and palladium leaf on paper

A print of the artist as Andy Warhol in black on a silver leaf background.

A bronze cast of a chunky, shrivelled apple core, painted to look real.

Eaten and then thrown away, Turk takes the discarded, shrivelled and dead and gives it new life in the form of miniature painted bronze sculptures. Heavy with the symbolism of an English Eden, these once ripe fruits, alongside their associations with knowledge and temptation, Adam’s apple and of course, Eve, have been discarded and tossed away. Now “rotten to the core”, the fruits of the utopian English garden have become a poisonous symbol of man’s fall. Or perhaps they are nothing more ominous than evidence of a healthy diet in which their daily consumption contains the promise to keep the doctor away.

&lsquo;Oh my God&rsquo;

A bronze cast of a chunky, shrivelled apple core, painted to look real.

'Oh my God'

A print of the artist as Andy Warhol in black on a silver background.

Fright Wig Silver

A print of the artist as Andy Warhol in black on a silver background.

A hand painted shop sign with the inscription 'Gavin Turk' in archaic script de-restored to look old, weather beaten and careworn, as if a relic or piece of junk shop memorabilia.England as a nation of shopkeepers is a notion attributed to economist Adam Smith and then later to Napoleon who was scathing in his attitude to Britain as a worthy opponent. The artist spent his formative years under the political regime of Margaret Thatcher, herself a daughter of a grocery shop owner, she took on the task of radicalizing the free market and embracing capitalism. The nostalgia generated by Relations and the other works in the shop sign series reflects a cultural shift from small family run business to global brands more allied to America than to Europe. England is no longer a nation of shopkeepers but factory fodder for corporate consumerism. The irony of an individualist free-thinking artist being part of a family business is bound up in this paradoxical image. The artist could not have been running the business that the sign implies, his grandparents could perhaps: but then again. They would have sold up long ago. This work suggests that the sign has been found like several other works in the exhibition. A prop from a film found in a junk shop, an accidental readymade, a piece of ephemera rather than the meticulously crafter artifact that it actually is.

Relations

Gold leaf, enamel, emulsions & crackle glazes on wood

Signs

A hand painted shop sign with the inscription 'Gavin Turk' in archaic script de-restored to look old, weather beaten and careworn, as if a relic or piece of junk shop memorabilia.England as a nation of shopkeepers is a notion attributed to economist Adam Smith and then later to Napoleon who was scathing in his attitude to Britain as a worthy opponent. The artist spent his formative years under the political regime of Margaret Thatcher, herself a daughter of a grocery shop owner, she took on the task of radicalizing the free market and embracing capitalism.

A print of the Artist as Joseph Beuys in fluorescent pink with an image of cracked glass over the top. Displayed in a white box frame.

Pink Beuys (Cracked Pain)

A print of the Artist as Joseph Beuys in fluorescent pink with an image of cracked glass over the top. Displayed in a white box frame.

Four prints of the artist as Che Guevara in blue, brown, grey and orange on a background of various blue and brown hues.

Four Che, Seven Hues

Four prints of the artist as Che Guevara in blue, brown, grey and orange on a background of various blue and brown hues.

A bronze cast of a shrivelled, slightly mouldy apple core painted to look real.Eaten and then thrown away, Turk takes the discarded, shrivelled and dead and gives it new life in the form of miniature painted bronze sculptures. Heavy with the symbolism of an English Eden, these once ripe fruits, alongside their associations with knowledge and temptation, Adam&rsquo;s apple and of course, Eve, have been discarded and tossed away. Now &ldquo;rotten to the core&rdquo;, the fruits of the utopian English garden have become a poisonous symbol of man&rsquo;s fall. Or perhaps they are nothing more ominous than evidence of a healthy diet in which their daily consumption contains the promise to keep the doctor away.

Original Sin

A bronze cast of a shrivelled, slightly mouldy apple core painted to look real.

A print of the artist as Andy Warhol in black on a yellow background.

Fright Wig Yellow

Forgery

A print of the artist as Andy Warhol in black on a yellow background.

A small canvas painting of blue and white Breton style stripes reminiscent of the sailor's shirt.

Flag

Diamond dust and acrylic paint on canvas

Acrylic paint and diamond dust on canvas

Flags

Painting

A small canvas painting of blue and white Breton style stripes reminiscent of the sailor's shirt.